“Batty as it sounds, subject and style may choose artists, through some unfathomable cosmic means. How else to explain that even artists who enjoy what they do can be perplexed or even horrified that they’re doing it?” — Jerry Saltz

“I think about the characters I’ve created and then I sit down and start typing and see what they will do. There’s a lot of subconscious thought that goes on. It amazes me to find out, a few chapters later, why I put someone in a certain place when I did. It’s spooky.” — Tom Clancy

Who has the right to kill you? Who has the right to throw you in jail? These are questions of authority that are answered in the daily workings-out of any society.

We don’t hesitate to apply force to men. There is no real doubt. And it’s not just if you’re “doing something Bad,” force will come to you. If you fail to pay your taxes, a form of force will be imposed on you. In fact, we live in a world that is force-happy, that loves to apply force in all its forms.

This fact often distresses those on the Left. But they are the law-abiding few. For the majority, the strong pimp hand of the state is required to keep them in line — certainly as regards taxes.

The dual nature of society — as provider of benefits and taker of taxes — ensures that force will be waiting in the wings as long as there are free men. It is actually freedom which triggers the most need for police, for in free societies there are fewer limits on human behavior.

The nature of force is such that it must be delivered in a way that doesn’t inspire revenge. The police and the courts are hoping you don’t seek them out after your criminal sentence is delivered. And, in fact, men do accept the judgments against them, as if they had — if not a conscience — then a guilty compass which informs them when they are violating the lines laid down by society.

Criminal actions are performed by a minority. They tend to repeat their crimes, though. Crime is a lifestyle. Mike Tyson raped a woman and got 3 years — and he’ll probably never go to prison again. But a professional burglar is in it for the long haul. He takes the rap as a matter of his occupational hazards, and returns again and again to his nefarious life.

Sometimes force is unjustly imposed. The American in Moscow who was recently arrested for espionage was picked up because the Russians were hoping to free a few Russians in America. Russian prisons are grosser than American ones, too. Where you serve your time determines how bad it is.

Authority is usually self-anointed. Men of ambition “elect themselves” decision-makers and they impose force on the larger society. They are backed by their friends and family, and this provides the justification for their actions on the larger scale.

The self-anointed man of force leadership is like a young rock singer with a guitar. If he is any good at what he does, the rock novice gets positive feedback from his peers and grows in confidence. If the self-anointed man of force is any good at what he does he likewise receives positive feedback. No generalized vote from the entire society is needed.

Most of all, force is inherited by the next generation. The police department recruits among the larger society, selecting for men who appear to be normal and sane in their approach, and the culture gets replicated in that manner. Force is a cultural artifact, one that appears time and again as the generations pass.